The Future Is Now: U.S. Navy’s Autonomous Swarmboats Can Overwhelm Adversaries

The Future Is Now: U.S. Navy’s Autonomous Swarmboats Can Overwhelm Adversaries

Posted On
Monday, 06 October 2014 09:51

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Naval Forces News - USA

The Future Is Now: U.S. Navy’s Autonomous Swarmboats Can Overwhelm
Adversaries

By David Smalley, Office of Naval Research
As autonomy and unmanned systems grow in importance for naval operations,
officials at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced today a technological
breakthrough that will allow any unmanned surface vehicle (USV) to not
only protect Navy ships, but also, for the first time, autonomously
“swarm” offensively on hostile vessels.

The autonomous Swarm demonstration, sponsored by the Office of Naval
Research (ONR), highlights a first-of-its-kind technology that gives
Naval warfighters a decisive edge through enabling unmanned Navy vessels
to overwhelm an adversary.

The first-of-its-kind technology—successfully
demonstrated over two weeks in August on the James River in Virginia—allows
unmanned Navy vessels to overwhelm an adversary. Its sensors and software
enable swarming capability, giving naval warfighters a decisive edge.

“This networking unmanned platforms demonstration was a cost-effective
way to integrate many small, cheap, and autonomous capabilities that
can significantly improve our warfighting advantage,” said Adm.
Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations.

The technology—called CARACaS (Control Architecture for Robotic
Agent Command and Sensing)—is under development by ONR, and can
be put into a transportable kit and installed on almost any boat. It
allows boats to operate autonomously, without a Sailor physically needing
to be at the controls—including operating in sync with other unmanned
vessels; choosing their own routes; swarming to interdict enemy vessels;
and escorting/protecting naval assets.

The technology—called CARACaS (Control Architecture for Robotic
Agent Command and Sensing)—is under development by ONR, and can
be put into a transportable kit and installed on almost any boat.

“Our Sailors and Marines can’t fight
tomorrow’s battles using yesterday’s technology,”
said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder. “This
kind of breakthrough is the result of the Navy’s long-term support
for innovative research in science and technology.”

In the demonstrations, as many as 13 Navy boats operated using either
autonomous or remote control. First they escorted a high-value Navy
ship, and then, when a simulated enemy vessel was detected, the boats
sped into action, swarming around the threat. (See CARACaS swarming
boat video.)

In the future, the capability could scale to include even greater numbers
of USVs and even to other platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs).

“This multiplies combat power by allowing CARACaS-enabled boats
to do some of the dangerous work,” said Dr. Robert Brizzolara,
program manager at ONR. “It will remove our Sailors and Marines
from many dangerous situations—for instance when they need to
approach hostile or suspicious vessels. If an adversary were to fire
on the USVs, no humans would be at risk.”

The new technology will allow the USVs to detect, deter or destroy attacking
adversaries. Any weapons fire from the USVs would need to be initiated
by a Sailor supervising the mission.

Naval leadership has emphasized a blended force of manned and unmanned
systems in recent years. Not only can USVs take on dangerous missions,
thus protecting the warfighter, but even multiple USVs are a fraction
of the cost of a single large manned ship.

The swarm demo announcement comes near the somber anniversary of the
terrorist attack on USS Cole (DDG-67) off the coast of Yemen. In that
October 2000 attack, a small boat laden with explosives was able to
get near a guided-missile destroyer and detonate, killing 17 Sailors
and injuring 39 others.

Autonomous swarmboat capabilities could play a vital role in protecting
people, ports and commerce.

“While the attack on Cole was not the only motivation for developing
autonomous swarm capability, it certainly is front and center in our
minds, and hearts,” said Klunder. “If Cole had been supported
by autonomous USVs, they could have stopped that attack long before
it got close to our brave men and women on board.”